Game 1 Boxscore / Game 2 Boxscore
WINONA, Minn. — If the Saint Mary's University fastpitch softball team was showing any ill effects from Saturday's Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference doubleheader loss to St. Thomas on Saturday, they certainly weren't visible Sunday afternoon.
After giving up a combined 12 runs in the first two innings of the two games vs. UST a day earlier, the Cardinals were bound and determined not to let the same thing happen against Concordia on Sunday.
And Jenny Schipp (North St. Paul, Minn.) made sure of it.
Schipp tossed a complete-game six-hitter, striking out a career-high nine batters — but more importantly, Schipp did not allow a run as the Cardinals cruised to a 4-0 victory in the opener.
The Cobbers did manage a first-inning run in the second game, but by the time the Cardinals were done batting in the bottom the first, it hardly matters as SMU erupted for eight runs in the first en route to an 11-1, five-inning victory.
"SMU fastpitch was back today," said SMU coach Nikki Fennern. "It's not that we play that poorly (against St. Thomas on Saturday), but today we were back to our dominating selves, and that was good to see."
So was the pitching performance of Schipp, who pushed her overall record to 3-0 with her second win in her last two starts.
"Jenny pitched a great game," Fennern said. "To have her come through at the end of the year like she is, that can only mean great things for us in the future."
Schipp's impressive debut may be a sign of good things to come for the Cardinals, but Sunday's finale was also a sign of great things that already have been at SMU.
Playing in their final home game, seniors Jackie Huegel (Alta Vista, Iowa), Niki Lynch (Winona, Minn.), Gina Rizzardi (Woodbury, Minn.) and Jennifer Gonerka (St. Paul, Minn.) stole the show.
Rizzardi went 3-for-3 with a double, 2 RBis and two runs scored, while Huegel was 2-for-3 with two doubles, an RBI and two runs scored, and Lynch was 2-for-3 with a double, two RBIs and a run scored. Gonerka, meanwhile, pitched four innings of three-hit ball, allowing only a first-inning run to earn her 10th win of the season.
"Our seniors have had such great careers," said Fennern. "To have them end their home careers the way they did today, that's really special."
The Cobbers tagged Gonerka for two hits and their lone run in the top of the first inning of Game 2, but SMU responded in a big way in its first at-bat.
SMU sent 12 batters to the plate, scoring eight runs on eight hits — including RBI doubles by Huegel, Amy Edge (Mineral Point, Wis.) and Lynch. The Cardinals added two more runs in the second, with Amy Barbiaux (New Franken, Wis.) doubling home one run, while Rizzardi drove in the other with a single, and closed out the scoring on an RBI single by Annie Krizan (West Liberty, Iowa) in the fourth.
The Cardinals scored all the runs they would need in the first inning of Game 1, as Amy Langer (Savage, Minn.) drove in Jen Gutterman (Shoreview, Minn.) from third with an RBI single to center.
SMU made it 3-0 in the third — scoring once on a throwing error by Concordia catcher Shyla Wilson, and adding another on an RBI double by Edge — and rounded out the scoring with an unearned run in the fourth.
"We needed to bounce back like that," said Fennern, whose team improved to 14-6 in the MIAC and 19-11 overall. "Everyone was a little down after losing two to St. Thomas, but they also knew they needed to put that behind them and come out and play the way they are capable."
They certainly did that.
